The other day I was reading blogs and came upon Tobia’s post about her 101 Things in 1001 Days progress. I’ve done one of these before and it reminded me of all the reasons why this format is so helpful. It involves long-term goal setting, but not too long-term. Being longer than a year, you get multiple chances to hit seasonal goals. There is plenty of room for a good mixture of goals. It’s just right for people like me who love somewhere to aim but are OK with a less-than-perfect hit rate. I pretty much immediately decided that I was going to do this myself. I had a bit of a headstart in that I already had an ultimate goals list in hand which was filled with lots of things that I wanted to do adding an end date will only help to move these along. In one form or another most of the things on this year’s list and my ultimate list are included.

I’ve treated this list as a roadmap to include more of the things that I’ve decided are life-giving and meaningful to me in my life while also knocking off some of those things that just need to be done. I’ve tried to make vague ideas more concrete, so “entertain more” becomes a particular number of big gatherings and small gatherings. I also like the idea of having a couple of blank spots to add to the list as I go, so three are to be decided in the second half of next year. Anyway, enough chat … here’s the list:

Start: 11th September 2023. End: 8th June 2026

• Reading and Writing
  • Move my notes to ROAM – I have a heap of notebooks and journals that I’d like to mine for anything that’s still useful. This will be a big job and I’m likely to get distracted going through the journals so we’ll see how it goes.
  • Join a theological library – Gives me access to expensive academic titles
  • Get something published – I have one particular essay in mind that just needs a bit of work to get ready.
  • Read 120 books
  • 50 lists blog project – I did a 24 list project on my other blog and I really enjoyed that format.
  • Read five Miles Franklin Award Winners
  • Journal for 30 days in a row
  • Do NaBloPoMo – not this year because I’ll be travelling but hopefully next year.
  • Update pages on my blog
  • Download and delete my old blog
• Running and Fitness
  • Sub 1:50 half-marathon – this is very much a stretch goal
  • Run a marathon
  • Foam roll for 30 days in a row
  • Recover strength for 30 days in a row
  • City to Surf
  • Run a sub 25min 5km again – it’s been a few years but I think it’s doable.
  • Run 2500km in a year
  • Parkruns (x10)
• Home
  • Get artwork (bedroom and living)
  • Get a storage unit for our bedroom
  • Clear out the boxes in our wardrobe
  • Set up the home automation with our photos on the display – the photos on there are beautiful but how much better to have family photos catch my eye while I’m cooking.
  • Clean out and organise the study – some of these organising tasks are co-dependent, wardrobe, study and hall cupboard all have some overlap.
  • Clean out and organise the hall cupboard
  • Install awning over our table
  • 2nd outdoor sitting area
  • Fix our automatic computer backup – this has not worked since we moved. I do have cloud backups of my photos and most important documents but it would be good to be able to recover everything easily.
• Sustainability
  • Get a bike
  • Build or buy a wicking bed for veggies
  • Get ten things secondhand instead of new
  • Repair something instead of replacing it
  • Start a worm farm
  • Do a waste audit and then reduce waste by 25%
  • Make weed tea
• Neighbourhood
  • Finishing walking or running every street in Brighton, Elwood and Gardenvale.
  • Write 10 blog posts about something I learned/saw while walking every street
  • Learn about our local First Nations peoples, neighbourhood history and environment Read/visit/watch 5 resources in each of these areas.
  • Go to five neighbourhood talks, festivals or activities.
  • Go to Elwood Famers Market
  • Try five new neighbourhood restaurants or cafes
• Melbourne and Surrounds
  • Visit a gallery or exhibition (x5)
  • Try 5 new restaurants
  • See the Fairy Penguins in St Kilda
  • Be a tourist in my home town (x2)
  • Local Hiking (x6)
• Travel
  • Three Capes Track
  • Visit four Victorian National Parks
  • E’s Germany Trip
  • Israel
  • Family holiday
  • Five-year travel wish list (for post-2024)
  • Short breaks (x5)
  • Travel for two of Hubby’s marathons
• Memories and Photography (this section is very ambitious, LOL)
  • Finish the kids’ books and hand over all their stuff
  • Major trip books (x5)
  • Put together trip videos (x4)
  • Go on an outing to photograph birds/wildlife (x2)
  • Finish a 1s a day monthly video project
  • ABC photo project
  • Colour project
  • Everyday object series (x3)
  • Finish year books (x4)
  • Make a magazine
• Faith
  • Get a mainly music group up and running
  • Try out some new rituals in my QT (x5)
  • Go on a retreat
  • Read the bible in a year
  • Try examen for 30 days in a row
• Community
  • Donate blood
  • Volunteer with a local community group (x2)
  • Pick up rubbish (x5)
  • Invite our neighbours over
  • Giveaway some produce from the garden
• Experience
  • Do something fun outdoors that is outside my norm
  • Go to an outdoor movie
  • See a platypus in the wild – this one will require nature’s cooperation
  • Go to a live show (x4)
  • Go to some live music
  • Internet free days (x15)
  • See the Northern or Southern Lights – once again will require nature’s cooperation
  • Swim at a beach/river/lake (x15) – we are out of the El Nina weather pattern and expecting a hotter summer here so I expect I’ll have more swimming opportunities over the next couple of years.
  • Make some playlists to listen to at home and listen to them (x4)
• Food
  • Finish cooking all the recipes in Tenderheart Cookbook
  • Make pasta
  • Make roti bread
  • Bottling or preserving (x10)
  • Make a reverse pantry list
  • Put together a set of go-to recipes for entertaining and taking places
  • List of my go-to breakfasts, lunches and snacks
• Family and Friends
  • Big gatherings (x4)
  • Small gatherings (x10)
  • Games night
  • Celebration dinner for each family birthday (including a special celebration for E’s 21st)
  • Organise an activity with friends (x2)
  • Organise an activity with family (x4)
  • Family 2000-piece puzzles (x5)
  • Update our wills and POA’s – the kids are adults now so no guardian is needed and the checks and balances we put on need a rethink.
  • Have my school friends over
• For later
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

And there you go, written evidence of me wanting all the things.